Saturday July 29 and Sunday July 30, 2017
El Granada to Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne, France

United flight attendents knew it was my birthday!
It had actually been my birthday on Friday, the day before, so I was
even more impressed that United knew it was my birthday on a day that
wasn't really my birthday...
For my birthday I got free food and beer on my domestic leg from SFO to
IAD...
After getting a last minute round trip flight to Europe for 60k miles a
few weeks prior and getting free food and feer for my birthday, I was
really starting love United!
(yes, I know how awful United is and have usually experience plenty of
that awfulness myself)

2017-07-29 21:53

I had a 2 hour layover in IAD before my flight to Geneva..
On my flight to GVA I had the middle 3 seats to myself and managed to
get a little sleep.
On my trips to Europe I've generally had a layover in Europe after a
very long flight before my connection to my final destination.
A 2 hour layover on the east coast and a flight from there directly to
my destination was MUCH better.
I felt pretty good when I arrived in Geneva just after 8am Sunday
morning.

My first goal was to ride up Col du Galibier, one of the hardest Tour
de France bike climbs.
The town to the north of Col du Galibier is Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne,
France, about 3-1/2 hours from Geneva by train.
The only bike shop in Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne isn't open on Sunday,
so I prepaid for a bike for Sunday and Monrday via paypal.
They were supposed to deliver the bike to my hotel late Saturday
afternoon.
At 10am I got on the train....

2017-07-30 10:57

Lac du Bourget and Mont du Chat, a famous Tour de France climb.
Looking southwest into the storm clouds
The ride up Mont du Chat is in the trees the whole way, no point riding
up a mountain if you can't see anything...

After about 20 hours of travel I arrived at Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne,
France
The train station is called Saint-Michel-Valloire
Valloire is the name of the ski town to the south past Col du
Télégraphe on the way up Col du Galibier
Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne is the next major town 10 miles northwest in
this valley, it is the starting point for other Tour de France climbs.

I wandered the town looking for signs of life or an open store, but on
a Sunday afternoon in a small town in France that's a fool's errand...
I found 3 bars that were open, including one that also served food, and
nothing else.

There are only 2 hotels in Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne that show up
online.
One of them is downtown, is reasonably well reviewed, but it was full
on Sunday night, leaving me with...
The other is the Hotel du Galibier, located about a kilometer west at
the very edge of town. It is not at all well rated, but
fortunately it was cheap - 40 euros a night.
I got to the hotel around 1:30pm.
The front door was open, but there was nobody at the front desk and a
sign said the front desk would open at 5pm.
I had no intention of waiting here for over 3 hours before I got to lie
down on the bed I'd already paid for...
There was an emergency cell number, I dialed it.
Before anyone answered, I noticed a sign in pointing toward the front
of the reception area.
Around the corner was the rack of keys for those checking in today, and
my key was there.
I walked upstairs, open the door to my room, and was delighted to find
my rental bike waiting for me!

2017-07-30 16:18

Hotel du Galibier
The manager / owner lives on the ground floor.
Seems to be quite the part time job since reception is only open a few
hours a day, and they haven't spent more than a few moments maintaining
the place in the last few decades...
The hotel has no elevator.

2017-07-30 13:16

My room did not have a bathroom, which was not mentioned anywhere
online.
The only bathroom shared by about 10 bedrooms on the third floor had a
single
shower stall (with no soap!) and one toilet.
Pretty freaking pathetic.
Other than the windows, it appears not a thing in the hotel has been
updated in
several decades.

2017-07-30 13:17

It was great that they put my bike in my room, but that was the only
positive thing I can say about this place.
My bike cost a little more than my hotel did!

View from my room in Hotel du Galibier looking east up the valley
toward
Italy
Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne is in the far left
The trains stopped running at night and weren't very frequent during
the day.
l'Arc river is flows down the valley

Quite the windstorm blew down the valley!
It stormed for a while but never rained hard enough to get the ground
wet.
Kent was in Wengen, Switzerland, and this storm hit us both at the same
time.
Fortunately the forecast for tomorrow shows almost no change of rain.

2017-07-30 16:31

2017-07-30 18:32

I did not visit the Museum of Aluminum.. I didn't even see it.

2017-07-30 18:34

2017-07-30 18:39

2017-07-30 18:50

I only had 2 choices for dinner, I went with La Scuderia pizza - poor
service but decent food
I ate out back

This is the only picture I have of the bakery
The bakery was almost always open,
it was open early,
it was open late,
it stocked cold beer,
it stocked gusto limon gatorade,
it was a lifesaver...

pizza was excellent since we're only 60km or so from Italy

2017-07-30 20:16

I went on a walk, and ibex kicked down rocks at me!
Not sure if it was intentional or accidental..
They were on their way down the mountain for water when they saw me and
had to turn around.
They were not happy.

2017-07-30 20:16

Meanwhile Kent woke up in Domodossola Italy, took a train to
Interlaken, Switzerland, did laundry, and then got a room in Wengen in
preperation to climb the Mönch.

Kent's pic of Wengen

Kent's pic of Wengen

Kent's pic

Kent's pic
He texted "is it wrong to play air guitar while skating and listening
to guns and roses?"